Red Sox exercise right to wait

Decisions on starting rotation to affect rest of pitching staff

Credit: Matt Stone

ARMS DEALER: Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington watches as the pitchers throw in the bullpen during a spring training workout last month in Fort Myers.

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FORT MYERS — The biggest lesson the Red Sox learned from last September had nothing to do with light beer or fried chicken.

Rather it was the devastating effect of a lack of pitching depth.

And so, as they get closer to choosing their fourth and fifth starters, the Red Sox are taking into account multiple variables. They know the rotation is unlikely to look the same in June or August as it does in April, so they’re trying to balance both their short- and long-term interests by maximizing their options.

“It’s not an easy exercise” general manager Ben Cherington said yesterday at JetBlue Park. “We have to look at how we set up the pitching staff to give us the best chance early in the season without sacrificing anything over the course of six months. At least on April 5 (Opening Day), there probably isn’t going to be a solution that works perfect for everyone.”

With nine days until the Red Sox break camp, four candidates remain for two rotation spots. Daniel Bard and Alfredo Aceves are trying to make the transition from relievers to starters and are locks to make the team in some capacity. Felix Doubront would have to be exposed to waivers before he could be sent to Triple A, while veteran Aaron Cook signed a minor league contract with a May 1 opt-out clause.

Aceves and Doubront started split-squad games on opposite Florida coasts yesterday and turned in polar opposite results. Doubront yielded one run on five hits over six innings against the Miami Marlins in Jupiter, while Aceves was tagged for nine runs on 10 hits in three innings against the Philadelphia Phillies at JetBlue Park in an outing labeled a “hiccup” by bench coach Tim Bogar.

“It’s one bad game,” Aceves said. “Since when, you know? I don’t remember since when I had the last bad outing. One outing is not going to tell you the value of the pitcher.”

Indeed, Cherington said the Red Sox are looking beyond the spring numbers.

In the case of Bard, who takes his turn today against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, the development of his changeup as a third pitch may determine his viability as a starter. In a start last week, he threw only one changeup in 83 pitches, leaving manager Bobby Valentine wanting to see more.

The Red Sox also are watching to see how Bard’s blazing fastball translates over multiple innings. He piled up 213 strikeouts in 197 innings as a late-innings reliever over the past three seasons, but this spring, he has only six strikeouts in 122â„3 innings.

Cherington has praised Bard for his unyielding commitment to training both his body and mind to be a starter. So, it’s worth asking if the Red Sox must show Bard the same commitment by putting him in the rotation, at least for the start of the season.

“I think we’ve been pretty consistent in the message to all of the guys that are part of this competition that, look, we believe all of you can do it, but not all of you are going to do it as part of the Opening Day rotation,” Cherington said. “Some of that group’s going to end up in the (bull)pen. That’s where the potentially difficult conversations come in. Those decisions just simply have not been made.”

Part of the reason, according to Cherington, is that the Red Sox want several pitchers to remain stretched out to be starters for as long as possible. Had it not been for hamstring injuries that caused Vicente Padilla and Andrew Miller to miss time, they likely would still be pitching multiple innings, too.

If Bard and/or Aceves are used as starters, they surely will face innings restrictions. Bard hasn’t topped more than 75 innings in a season, while Aceves reached a career-high 114 innings last year.

One or both could at least be in the rotation until Daisuke Matsuzaka returns from Tommy John elbow surgery, likely by June. Cook, whose contract gives the Red Sox flexibility to have him start the season in the minors without any risk of losing him to another club, also could be an option later if Bard or Aceves falters or fatigues.

Regardless of how the rotation sets up Game 1 in Detroit against the Tigers, the Red Sox want to keep their options open to change the starters. The Opening Day roster is hardly a finished product. Cherington noted that Aceves started last season in Triple A before emerging as arguably the Red Sox’ most valuable pitcher.

“You look at the pitching solution for 2012, it’s not 12 names. It’s 20 or 25 names,” Cherington said. “So we’re trying to figure out who are the 20-plus guys that are going to help us the most over the course of the season, and how do we keep as many of those 20 guys as we can as viable options.”

But Valentine also is a firm believer in having a lights-out bullpen, and Cherington concedes that removing both Bard and Aceves from the mix may debilitate the reliever corps.

It’s all part of fitting the puzzle pieces together to form a pitching staff. And it’s a big reason the Red Sox are taking so much time to make their rotation decision.

“We knew this was going to be part of the challenge going into it,” Cherington said. “To some extent we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, moving a guy from ’pen to rotation. That is a factor, and we believe that whoever doesn’t end up in the rotation can really help us in the bullpen. We just don’t know who it is yet.”